Malta: Third Party Patch Roundup – January 2017

It's a brand new year and this January has been an
interesting one. On the technology front, CES brought us a glimpse
of some fascinating new consumer products – personal
assistants, robots, drones, new cameras and phones and a big focus
on the Internet of Things.

When we IT pros – especially those who specialize in
security – think about IoT, though, our first thoughts are
about the software running all those connected "smart
things," the vulnerabilities that are sure to be lurking
therein, and whether and how we'll be able to keep them all
patched and prevent them from posing a major threat to our
networks.

But that's a problem for another day and a different blog
post. Luckily, unlike some of the startups making these exciting
new IoT devices, the venerable software vendors who produce the
computer and mobile operating systems and applications we've
been relying upon for years are very cognizant of the importance of
security.

Let's take a look at some of the updates they've issued
in this first month of 2017:

Apple

In case you thought Apple's release of seven major updates
in December portended a light load for January, think again. This
month we've already seen a whopping nine updates out of
Cupertino, but interestingly none of those is an update for their
Yosemite or El Capitan desktop operating systems; only the new
macOS Sierra gets updated.

On December 5, Apple released an update for
Transporter running on iTunes Producer, OS X v10.6 and
later, Windows 7 and later and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Transporter is Apple's Java-based command-line tool to validate
metadata and assets and deliver them directly to iTunes. This
update fixes an information disclosure vulnerability by correcting
the parsing of EPUB.

watchOS 3.1.3 for all models of Apple Watch.
The update addresses thirty-four vulnerabilities, many of them in
the OS kernel. The most serious include memory corruption issues
that could be exploited to accomplish remote code execution.

tvOS 10.1.1 for Apple TV 4th The
update addresses eleven vulnerabilities, most of them in the WebKit
component. The most serious include memory corruption issues that
could be exploited to accomplish remote code execution.

iOS 10.2.1 for iPhone 5 and above, iPad gen 4
and above, and iPod Touch gen 6 and above. The update addresses
eighteen vulnerabilities, most of them in the WebKit component. The
most serious include memory corruption issues that could be
exploited to accomplish remote code execution.

macOS Sierra 10.12.3 for Mac desktop and
laptop computers. The update addresses eleven vulnerabilities,
seven of which can potentially be exploited to accomplish code
execution.

iCloud for Windows 6.1.1 for Windows 7 and
above. This is Apple's client for connecting Windows computers
to their cloud file storage service. The update addresses four
vulnerabilities in the WebKit component. The most serious include
memory corruption issues that could be exploited to accomplish
remote code execution.

Safari 10.03 for OS X Yosemite, El Capitan and
macOS Sierra. The update addresses twelve vulnerabilities in the
WebKit component. The most serious include memory corruption issues
that could be exploited to accomplish remote code execution.

iTunes 12.5.5 for Windows for Windows 7 and
above. The update addresses four vulnerabilities in the WebKit
component. The most serious include memory corruption issues that
could be exploited to accomplish remote code execution.

Adobe

Adobe served up nine updates in December, but this month fell
back to a more typical release of three patches, only one of which
was issued on their regularly scheduled Patch Tuesday.

APSB17-01, the first Adobe patch of the year,
was released prior to Patch Tuesday, on January 5. It's an
update for Acrobat and Reader running on Windows and Mac OS that
addresses thirty-two vulnerabilities, including many critical
memory corruption, buffer overflow, use-after-free and type
confusion issues that could lead to code execution. It's
assigned a priority rating of 2.

APSB17-02 was released on Patch Tuesday
(January 10) and is an update for Adobe Flash Player on Windows,
Mac OS, Linux and Chrome OS. It addresses thirteen vulnerabilities,
including memory corruption, heap buffer overflow and
use-after-free vulnerabilities that could be exploit to accomplish
code execution, as well as a security bypass that could result in
information disclosure. It's assigned a priority rating of 1 on
all except Flash Player for Linux, which has a rating of 3.

APSB17-03 was released on January 19 and is an
update for the Adobe Acrobat extension for the Chrome web browser
on Windows. It addresses a cross-site scripting issue that could
lead to javascript execution.

For more information about these vulnerabilities and updates,
see Adobe's Security Bulletins and Advisories web site at https://helpx.adobe.com/security.html
or see the individual bulletins linked in each bullet point
above.

Mozilla

Advisory 2017-01 for Firefox was released by
Mozilla on January 24. It addresses six critical issues, six more
of high impact, ten rated moderate, and three low impact for a
total of twenty-five. These include memory corruption issues, ASLR
and DEP bypass, use-after-free issues, pointer and frame data
leakage of Javascript objects, information disclosure, a
denial-of-service exploit and more.

Linux

Popular Linux distros, as usual, have seen a number of security
advisories and updates this month. As of the date of this writing,
January 27, Ubuntu has issued twenty-one security notices this
month, which is somewhat fewer than usual. Many of these address
multiple vulnerabilities and in some cases there are multiple
advisories for the same vulnerabilities. Other commercial Linux
vendors issued a similar number of updates. Here are the Ubuntu
security advisories for January:

USN-3178-1: icoutils vulnerabilities –
24th January 2017. It was discovered that icoutils incorrectly
handled memory when processing certain files. If a user or
automated system were tricked into opening a specially crafted
file, an attacker could cause icoutils to crash, resulting in a
denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code.

USN-3179-1: OpenJDK 8 vulnerabilities –
25th January 2017. Karthik Bhargavan and Gaetan Leurent discovered
that the DES and Triple DES ciphers were vulnerable to birthday
attacks. A remote attacker could possibly use this flaw to obtain
clear text data from long encrypted sessions. This update moves
those algorithms to the legacy algorithm set.

USN-3177-1: Tomcat vulnerabilities – 23rd
January 2017. It was discovered that the Tomcat realm
implementations incorrectly handled passwords when a username
didn't exist. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue
to enumerate usernames. This issue only applied to Ubuntu 12.04
LTS, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

USN-3176-1: PCSC-Lite vulnerability –
23rd January 2017. Peter Wu discovered that the PC/SC service did
not correctly handle certain resources. A local attacker could use
this issue to cause PC/SC to crash, resulting in a denial of
service, or possibly execute arbitrary code with root
privileges.

USN-3174-1: MySQL vulnerabilities – 19th
January 2017. Multiple security issues were discovered in MySQL and
this update includes new upstream MySQL versions to fix these
issues. MySQL has been updated to 5.5.54 in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.10 have been
updated to MySQL 5.7.17.

USN-3172-1: Bind vulnerabilities – 12th
January 2017. It was discovered that Bind incorrectly handled
certain malformed responses to an ANY query. A remote attacker
could possibly use this issue to cause Bind to crash, resulting in
a denial of service. (CVE-2016-9131) It was discovered that Bind
incorrectly handled certain malformed responses to an ANY
query.

USN-3171-1: LibVNCServer vulnerabilities
– 11th January 2017.Josef Gajdusek discovered that the
LibVNCServer client library incorrectly handled certain
FrameBufferUpdate messages. If a user were tricked into connecting
to a malicious server, an attacker could use this issue to cause a
denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code.

USN-3170-2: Linux kernel (Raspberry Pi 2)
vulnerabilities – 11th January 2017. Andrey Konovalov
discovered that the ipv6 icmp implementation in the Linux kernel
did not properly check data structures on send. A remote attacker
could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash).

USN-3170-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities
– 11th January 2017. Dmitry Vyukov discovered that the KVM
implementation in the Linux kernel did not properly initialize the
Code Segment (CS) in certain error cases. A local attacker could
use this to expose sensitive information (kernel memory).

USN-3169-4: Linux kernel (Qualcomm Snapdragon)
vulnerabilities – 11th January 2017. Baozeng Ding
discovered a race condition that could lead to a use-after- free in
the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) subsystem of the Linux
kernel. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of
service (system crash).

USN-3169-3: Linux kernel (Raspberry Pi 2)
vulnerabilities – 11th January 2017. Baozeng Ding
discovered a race condition that could lead to a use-after- free in
the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) subsystem of the Linux
kernel. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of
service (system crash).

USN-3169-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities
– 11th January 2017. Dmitry Vyukov discovered that the KVM
implementation in the Linux kernel did not properly initialize the
Code Segment (CS) in certain error cases. A local attacker could
use this to expose sensitive information (kernel memory).

USN-3168-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities
– 11th January 2017. Dmitry Vyukov discovered that the KVM
implementation in the Linux kernel did not properly initialize the
Code Segment (CS) in certain error cases. A local attacker could
use this to expose sensitive information (kernel memory).

USN-3167-2: Linux kernel (OMAP4)
vulnerabilities – 11th January 2017. Dmitry Vyukov
discovered that the KVM implementation in the Linux kernel did not
properly initialize the Code Segment (CS) in certain error cases. A
local attacker could use this to expose sensitive information
(kernel memory).

USN-3167-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities
– 11th January 2017. Dmitry Vyukov discovered that the KVM
implementation in the Linux kernel did not properly initialize the
Code Segment (CS) in certain error cases. A local attacker could
use this to expose sensitive information (kernel memory). Baozeng
Ding discovered a race condition that could lead to a use-after-
free.

USN-3166-1: WebKitGTK+ vulnerabilities –
10th January 2017. A large number of security issues were
discovered in the WebKitGTK+ Web and JavaScript engines. If a user
were tricked into viewing a malicious website, a remote attacker
could exploit a variety of issues related to web browser security,
including cross-site scripting attacks, denial of service attacks,
and arbitrary code.

USN-3163-1: NSS vulnerabilities – 4th
January 2017. It was discovered that NSS incorrectly handled
certain invalid Diffie-Hellman keys. A remote attacker could
possibly use this flaw to cause NSS to crash, resulting in a denial
of service. This issue only applied to Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Ubuntu
14.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

Currently blockchain technologies are disrupting and revolutionizing various industries on a global level through the use of immutable public ledgers spread over a distributed network.

Some comments from our readers…“The articles are extremely timely and highly applicable”“I often find critical information not available elsewhere”“As in-house counsel, Mondaq’s service is of great value”

Mondaq (and its affiliate sites) do not sell or provide your details to third parties other than information providers. The reason we provide our information providers with this information is so that they can measure the response their articles are receiving and provide you with information about their products and services.

If you do not want us to provide your name and email address you may opt out by clicking here

If you do not wish to receive any future announcements of products and services offered by Mondaq you may opt out by clicking here

Terms & Conditions and Privacy Statement

Mondaq.com (the Website) is owned and managed by Mondaq Ltd and as a user you
are granted a non-exclusive, revocable license to access the Website under its
terms and conditions of use. Your use of the Website constitutes your agreement
to the following terms and conditions of use. Mondaq Ltd may terminate your use
of the Website if you are in breach of these terms and conditions or if Mondaq
Ltd decides to terminate your license of use for whatever reason.

Use of www.mondaq.com

You may use the Website but are required to register as a user if you wish to
read the full text of the content and articles available (the Content). You may
not modify, publish, transmit, transfer or sell, reproduce, create derivative
works from, distribute, perform, link, display, or in any way exploit any of the
Content, in whole or in part, except as expressly permitted in these terms &
conditions or with the prior written consent of Mondaq Ltd. You may not use
electronic or other means to extract details or information about Mondaq.com’s
content, users or contributors in order to offer them any services or products
which compete directly or indirectly with Mondaq Ltd’s services and products.

Disclaimer

Mondaq Ltd and/or its respective suppliers make no representations about the
suitability of the information contained in the documents and related graphics
published on this server for any purpose. All such documents and related
graphics are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. Mondaq Ltd and/or
its respective suppliers hereby disclaim all warranties and conditions with
regard to this information, including all implied warranties and conditions of
merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement.
In no event shall Mondaq Ltd and/or its respective suppliers be liable for any
special, indirect or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting
from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence
or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with the use or
performance of information available from this server.

The documents and related graphics published on this server could include
technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically added
to the information herein. Mondaq Ltd and/or its respective suppliers may make
improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described
herein at any time.

Registration

Mondaq Ltd requires you to register and provide information that personally
identifies you, including what sort of information you are interested in, for
three primary purposes:

To allow you to personalize the Mondaq websites you are visiting.

To enable features such as password reminder, newsletter alerts, email a
colleague, and linking from Mondaq (and its affiliate sites) to your website.

Mondaq (and its affiliate sites) do not sell or provide your details to third
parties other than information providers. The reason we provide our information
providers with this information is so that they can measure the response their
articles are receiving and provide you with information about their products and
services.

Information Collection and Use

We require site users to register with Mondaq (and its affiliate sites) to
view the free information on the site. We also collect information from our
users at several different points on the websites: this is so that we can
customise the sites according to individual usage, provide 'session-aware'
functionality, and ensure that content is acquired and developed appropriately.
This gives us an overall picture of our user profiles, which in turn shows to
our Editorial Contributors the type of person they are reaching by posting
articles on Mondaq (and its affiliate sites) – meaning more free content for
registered users.

We are only able to provide the material on the Mondaq (and its affiliate
sites) site free to site visitors because we can pass on information about the
pages that users are viewing and the personal information users provide to us
(e.g. email addresses) to reputable contributing firms such as law firms who
author those pages. We do not sell or rent information to anyone else other than the authors of those pages, who may change from time to time. Should you wish us
not to disclose your details to any of these parties, please tick the box above
or tick the box marked "Opt out of Registration Information Disclosure" on the
Your Profile page. We and our author organisations may only contact you via
email or other means if you allow us to do so. Users can opt out of contact when
they register on the site, or send an email to unsubscribe@mondaq.com with “no
disclosure” in the subject heading

Mondaq News Alerts

In order to receive Mondaq News Alerts, users have to complete a separate
registration form. This is a personalised service where users choose regions and
topics of interest and we send it only to those users who have requested it.
Users can stop receiving these Alerts by going to the Mondaq News Alerts page
and deselecting all interest areas. In the same way users can amend their
personal preferences to add or remove subject areas.

Cookies

A cookie is a small text file written to a user’s hard drive that contains an
identifying user number. The cookies do not contain any personal information
about users. We use the cookie so users do not have to log in every time they
use the service and the cookie will automatically expire if you do not visit the
Mondaq website (or its affiliate sites) for 12 months. We also use the cookie to
personalise a user's experience of the site (for example to show information
specific to a user's region). As the Mondaq sites are fully personalised and
cookies are essential to its core technology the site will function
unpredictably with browsers that do not support cookies - or where cookies are
disabled (in these circumstances we advise you to attempt to locate the
information you require elsewhere on the web). However if you are concerned
about the presence of a Mondaq cookie on your machine you can also choose to
expire the cookie immediately (remove it) by selecting the 'Log Off' menu option
as the last thing you do when you use the site.

Some of our business partners may use cookies on our site (for example,
advertisers). However, we have no access to or control over these cookies and we
are not aware of any at present that do so.

Log Files

We use IP addresses to analyse trends, administer the site, track movement,
and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not
linked to personally identifiable information.

Links

This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that Mondaq (or
its affiliate sites) are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other
sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read
the privacy statements of these third party sites. This privacy statement
applies solely to information collected by this Web site.

Surveys & Contests

From time-to-time our site requests information from users via surveys or
contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and
the user therefore has a choice whether or not to disclose any information
requested. Information requested may include contact information (such as name
and delivery address), and demographic information (such as postcode, age
level). Contact information will be used to notify the winners and award prizes.
Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the
functionality of the site.

Mail-A-Friend

If a user elects to use our referral service for informing a friend about our
site, we ask them for the friend’s name and email address. Mondaq stores this
information and may contact the friend to invite them to register with Mondaq,
but they will not be contacted more than once. The friend may contact Mondaq to
request the removal of this information from our database.

Emails

From time to time Mondaq may send you emails promoting Mondaq services including new services. You may opt out of receiving such emails by clicking below.

*** If you do not wish to receive any future announcements of services offered by Mondaq you may opt out by clicking here .

Security

This website takes every reasonable precaution to protect our users’
information. When users submit sensitive information via the website, your
information is protected using firewalls and other security technology. If you
have any questions about the security at our website, you can send an email to
webmaster@mondaq.com.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information

If a user’s personally identifiable information changes (such as postcode),
or if a user no longer desires our service, we will endeavour to provide a way
to correct, update or remove that user’s personal data provided to us. This can
usually be done at the “Your Profile” page or by sending an email to EditorialAdvisor@mondaq.com.

Notification of Changes

If we decide to change our Terms & Conditions or Privacy Policy, we will
post those changes on our site so our users are always aware of what information
we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
If at any point we decide to use personally identifiable information in a manner
different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will notify users by
way of an email. Users will have a choice as to whether or not we use their
information in this different manner. We will use information in accordance with
the privacy policy under which the information was collected.

How to contact Mondaq

If for some reason you believe Mondaq Ltd. has not adhered to these
principles, please notify us by e-mail at problems@mondaq.com and we will use
commercially reasonable efforts to determine and correct the problem promptly.

By clicking Register you state you have read and agree to our Terms and Conditions